Keir Starmer swiped at Donald Trump for plunging the Middle East into ‘chaos’ today as he insisted he does have a grip on the situation.
The PM is fielding questions in Downing Street amid a mounting backlash over Britain’s lack of military preparations and the meltdown in the Special Relationship.
Sir Keir said he was providing ‘calm, level-headed leadership’ to the burgeoning crisis, appealing for the nation to ‘come together’.
He also argued that the UK had been deploying resources such as anti-aircraft missiles to the region since December, despite anger at the apparent inability to protect a crucial Cyprus base from Iranian reprisals.
The premier said helicopters with capability to shoot down missiles and drones would be arriving in the Mediterranean tomorrow, and more Typhoon jets were being deployed to Qatar.
While the region has been plunged into chaos, my focus is providing calm, level-headed leadership in the national interest,’ Sir Keir said.
He added: ‘This conflict could continue for some time.’
However, there are claims that Mr Trump has taken to referring to Sir Keir as a ‘loser’ in private. He has already publicly dismissed the premier as ‘no Churchill’ after he refused to let the US launch strikes on Iran from UK bases.
Sir Keir insisted the ‘Special Relationship’ was still in effect despite the spat, but said: ‘It’s for me as the British PM to take the decisions that I consider to be in the best interests of the UK.’
Keir Starmer has called a surprise press conference for 2pm as he is battered over his response to the Middle East war
Donald Trump publicly dismissed the premier as ‘no Churchill’ after he refused to let the US launch strikes on Iran from UK bases
Madrid said the frigate Cristobal Colon would join French and Greek ships in the Eastern Mediterranean ‘offer protection and aerial defence’ and ‘support any evacuation of civilians’
Sir Keir’s desperate efforts to get back on the front foot have been thrown into turmoil by news that more European countries are having to deploy forces to protect the crucial RAF Akrotiri base on Cyprus.
Spain is to join France, Italy and the Netherlands in sending its navy, with the UK not having any vessels in the area and Type 45 air defence destroyer HMS Dragon not even due to set off until next week.
Madrid said the frigate Cristobal Colon would join a growing international armada in the Eastern Mediterranean to ‘offer protection and aerial defence’ and ‘support any evacuation of civilians’ from the island.
RAF Akroitiri was hit by an Iranian drone fired from Lebanon on Sunday, raising major concerns about the standard of local air defences.
Officials said the damage was minor, but last night it was revealed the drone hit a hangar used by the US for U2 spy planes flying high-altitude reconnaissance missions.
After France agreed to send frigates to protect the island Sir Keir on Tuesday ordered HMS Dragon to sail to the region.
But Nigel Farage said Britain has been ‘humiliated’ over the Government’s response to the conflict in the Middle East.
Speaking at the launch of Reform’s Wales manifesto on Thursday, the party leader said Sir Keir Starmer was ‘incapable of making a decision’, describing him as a ‘follower and not a leader’.
‘We find ourselves humiliated,’ he said. ‘What was for centuries the greatest naval nation on Earth is now unable, for up to a fortnight, to send a Type 45 to Cyprus to defend British sovereign territory.
‘We’ve managed to upset the Cypriots, we’ve managed to upset the Americans, we’ve managed to upset the UAE, Bahrain and all the other Gulf states that are on our side.’
It was claimed today that Sir Keir would not have survived in No10 if he had backed Mr Trump’s Iran strikes.
A senior Labour MP has insisted Sir Keir ‘didn’t have a choice’ about turning down the request following the by-election humiliation by anti-war Greens in Gorton & Denton.
Sir Keir barely fended off a coup last month amid the Mandelson scandal, and has been facing massive pressure to lurch to the Left.
Details have emerged of a bruising discussion at a meeting of the National Security Council last Friday, less than 24 hours before the American-Israeli strikes began.
Ed Miliband – nicknamed ‘Red Ed’ and touted as a replacement leader – Rachel Reeves and Yvette Cooper are said to have urged Sir Keir to shun the US assault on Iran, pointing to the domestic political situation.
Security sources said Mr Miliband took a ‘petulant, pacifist, legalistic and very political approach’ at a meeting of the National Security Council last Friday – the day before the US attack began, and just hours after Labour suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Greens in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
He and Ms Reeves are said to have ‘made it quite difficult for the Prime Minister’, while Ms Cooper adopted the ‘cautious approach of the Foreign Office’.
Mr Trump was incensed by Sir Keir’s initial refusal to let the US use UK bases for the joint attacks with Israel – with the Transatlantic wrangling said to have been going on for weeks.
That was later partially walked back by the PM under huge pressure, with ‘defensive’ actions permitted. There had been warnings that the US could simply use the bases anyway and dare Britain to stop them.
Type 45 air defence destroyer HMS Dragon (pictured today loading with missiles) will not be ready to set sail for the Eastern Mediterranean from Portsmouth until next week
Mr Trump condemned the premier as ‘disappointing’ and ‘no Churchill’ on Tuesday, as the situation became more personal.
But at PMQs yesterday Sir Keir accused Mr Trump of lacking a ‘viable, thought-through plan’.
He said letting the US use UK bases to shoot down drones ‘is the special relationship in action’ but ‘hanging on to President Trump’s latest words is not’.
Labour MP John McDonnell told ITV’s Peston last night that he was not surprised Sir Keir rejected the request from the US.
‘I don’t think he had a choice then… we’d just lost a by-election, crushed in a by-election, we’ve got elections coming up in May in local government,’ the former frontbencher said.
‘I’m not sure whether he would have survived as PM if he’d gone along with Trump automatically.’
